


i watched it begin again

by softgals



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, College AU, Companion Piece, F/F, F/M, Human AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2017-10-10
Packaged: 2019-01-15 02:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12312417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softgals/pseuds/softgals
Summary: Malia Tate is a horrible roommate. She's messy, stays out until all hours of the night, and views clothes as strictly optional. However, Lydia was able to put up with all of it- until Malia started pining over Kira Yukimura. Between that and Lydia's new hopelessly awkward tutoring client, it's going to be an interesting year.aka scenes from the you & i are a symphony universe in Lydia's perspective





	i watched it begin again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lydiastxles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lydiastxles/gifts).



> This is a birthday gift to the lovely, amazing, beyond compare Fer (lydiastxles). It's a companion to my multi chap malira fic, you & i are a symphony, which is also posted on my account. It pretty much follows you & i are a symphony but from Lydia's perspective, so reading you & i are a symphony is pretty important for understanding this fic.

Lydia was busy folding Malia’s laundry (partially because she was a good roommate, and even more partially because it had been sitting there for a week and she needed to borrow the laundry basket), when Malia strolled back in, slamming the door behind her as she always did.

Lydia took one look at her wind tousled hair and the jacket she had thrown on over her leotard and asked “Roof?”

Malia nodded, and that was when Lydia noticed the weirdly dreamy look in her eyes.

Lydia knew what that usually meant. “Oh god, do you have a new girl? When do you need me out of the room?”

“No,” Malia shook her head quickly, “I’m not interested in anyone.”

Lydia raised her eyebrow. She also knew Malia well enough to catch her being defensive. “Hold on. Did you find a girl you like who isn’t throwing herself at your feet just because you’re a good kisser with a dancer’s body?”

Malia flopped down on her bed. “No. I told you, there’s no one.”

“You know, if someone doesn’t immediately confess their love for you, you could always try, well, trying. I can give you some tips,” Lydia kicked the mostly empty laundry basket to Malia, “ but only if you finish putting away your laundry.”

Malia chucked a pillow at Lydia (with much more force than strictly necessary), and then groaned and rolled over to face the wall.

Lydia wasn’t sure if that was a reaction to the teasing or the laundry. Probably both.

Lydia sighed and retrieved the laundry basket, then returned to shoving the clothes into Malia’s drawers (which were a disaster- she was going to have to make Malia organize them later).

“You know,” Lydia piped up, “next year, I’m going to live alone.”

Malia gave her the finger.

 

Lydia didn’t get any answers until the next day. She was studying in their dorm, while Malia was draped across her bed doing, well, whatever Malia did when she was ignoring her homework, when Malia suddenly piped up.

“Do you know Kira Yukimura?”

Lydia closed her book. Somehow, she knew this was going to take more than a one-word answer. “She’s in my history class.”

“Hmm.” Malia hummed.

“She’s pretty.” Lydia commented, thinking of Malia’s starry eyes after her tryst on the roof the other day. “Smart too. Super type A.”

Malia didn’t say anything, but Lydia knew she was listening.

“She plays the violin.” Lydia added. “Religiously. I’ve heard she’s top of her class.”

“Hmmm.” Malia repeated. “I’ve never her seen her before. Does she ever go to parties?”

Lydia shrugged. She only had one class with the girl. “I don’t think so.”

Malia tossed her pillow up in the air and then caught it. “Huh.”

“So when did you meet her?” Lydia pressed.

“I just ran into her the other day.” Malia said, all too casually.

“Why the questions then?” Lydia asked, “If you just ran into her.”

Malia shrugged. “I was just curious.”

“Sure.” Lydia said, “Just curious.”

“Yup,” Malia tossed her pillow again, and then was silent for a few seconds. She piped up again a moment later, staring at the ceiling, “She is pretty.”

“What did she say when you guys met?” Lydia asked.

Malia’s face scrunched up, “Don’t you have a textbook to read?”

Lydia raised her eyebrow. “Oh, so now you care about my education?”

“Education is very important, Lydia.” Malia said, keeping an impressively straight face.

“Alright, fine. You can tell me about your new crush on Kira later.” Lydia turned back to her textbook. She did have to study after all. And Malia would tell her. Eventually.

 

While Malia was (unbeknownst to Lydia) busy dragging Kira around town on their not-date, Lydia was having a much less fun night.

She made her way to the auditorium after dinner, where she found the scrawny brunette she assumed was her client waiting.

He sat up when he saw walking in, “You’re here.”

“Of course.” Lydia said, “I don’t get more tutoring jobs by showing up late.”

“Right.” He popped up to his feet and held out his hand to Lydia. “Stiles.”

“What the hell is a Stiles?”

“My name.” The boy- Stiles- clarified, “I mean, my real name is, well, you wouldn’t be able to pronounce it, but everyone just calls me Stiles.”

“Okay.” Lydia shook his hand, “I’m Lydia. So, what do you need help with? I usually do math or science, but-“

“Actually,” Stiles interrupted, rubbing the back of his neck, “I, uh-“ He trailed off.

Lydia raised her eyebrows. She didn’t have time for this. “Well?”

“I need you to teach me how to waltz.”

Oh no. Just because Lydia tutored people for extra money didn’t mean she would slow dance with any horny guy who paid her enough. “Why? You’re a little old for a bat mitzvah and a little young for a wedding.”

“I’m not a creep. Promise.” He said quickly, “Look, I’m an actor, and I got the lead role in this big student play, but there’s one scene where I’m supposed to waltz, and I kind of maybe said I already knew how in order to get the part.” He rocked nervously from one to the other, waiting for her response.

“So you’re not a creep, just a liar?” Lydia responded. “Huh.”

“If I learn to waltz before the show, than I’m not really a liar. Technically.”

Lydia turned to leave. “Good luck with that.”

“Wait,” He trailed after her, “Please? If you don’t help me, I’m just going to have to watch that scene from High School Musical 3 on repeat and try to copy Zac Efron and then my roommate will laugh at me and I’ll be a social outcast and die. Do you really want my death on your conscious?”

Lydia rolled her eyes. He was going to be a piece of work, but damn, she could still use the money. She turned back to Stiles. “If you try to cop a feel, I will break your hand.”

Stiles held his hands up in surrender. “Right! Just tell me what to do.”

“Alright,” Lydia strode onto the stage, expecting Stiles to follow, “Listen carefully, and follow my lead.”

 

Lydia leaned back on her bed, waiting for Malia to come back. She was going to need to ice her feet after all of the times Stiles had stepped on them in the past hour. God, you would think being an actor would require some coordination. How had he never fallen off a stage and killed himself?  
She looked at her phone. No texts from Malia. What was she up to? Normally she was only out late on weekends or when she had been hanging out with a new girl.

As if summoned by Lydia’s thoughts, Malia strode through the door at that moment, cheeks flushed and a small smile on her face.

“Did you find somewhere other than our room to have sex for once?” Lydia asked.

“Huh?” Malia flopped down on her bed, staring off into space. “No, I wasn’t having sex.”

“Really? Because that looks like your post-sex face.”

Malia scrunched up her nose. “I don’t have a post-sex face.” She paused for a second. “Do I?”

“Definitely.” Lydia said. “So what were you doing while you were not having sex?”

“I was out” Malia said, and then added “with Kira” under her breath.

“Sorry, did you say you were out with Kira?” Lydia sat up. “Cute nerdy violin Kira from the roof? You got her to go on a date with you?”

“It wasn’t a date.” Malia said quickly. “We were just hanging out.”

“Sure.” Judging by the post-sex face, there was definitely something more than hanging out going on. “What did you guys do?”

“None of your business.” Malia replied, but then sat up and faced Lydia. “I took her to Paisley’s.”

“Oh God, did you eat the meat pancakes in front of her? She’s never going to call you now.”

“Shut up.” Malia chucked a pillow at Lydia, but Lydia caught it.

“I’m going to keep this.” Lydia said, holding the pillow above her head like a trophy. “You’re going to run out of pillows eventually and then you’ll have to talk to me.”

“It wasn’t a date.” Malia said, again.

“Did you want it to be?”

“Careful, I have a lot of pillows left.” Malia shot back.

“Hey,” Lydia looked Malia up and down, “Weren’t you wearing your jacket earlier?”

Malia looked down, as if she hadn’t realized she wasn’t wearing it anymore. “I don’t think so.”

“Okay-“ Lydia began, but Malia cut her off.

“So how was your night?”

“Oh boy.” Lydia said. She wanted answers from Malia, but she also needed to complain about Stiles, and if there was one thing Malia was good for, it was telling Lydia how she would violently murder anyone who annoyed her, which was always strangely comforting. “So I had a new tutoring job-“

 

“Who slept in my bed?” Lydia said almost as soon as she stepped into the room, “I said I didn’t care if you had people over while I was at my mom’s, but please tell me you didn’t have sex in my bed. If this is about that fact that you haven’t washed your sheets in-“

“No one had sex in your bed.” Malia interrupted, mouth full of chips. “Promise.” She held out the bag of chips to Lydia, offering her one. “Also, I do wash my sheets.”

Lydia took a chip and sat down on her bed. “Then who slept in my bed?”

Malia stared at her feet. “Kira.”

Lydia tried to keep a straight face. “Violin Kira?”

“We didn’t have sex.” Malia said instead of answering. “She got locked out of her room and I offered-“ Malia trailed off.

“Okay, I get it.” Lydia said, “No sex.”

“Because we’re not together.” Malia added.

“Right.” Lydia said. “Of course not.”

“How was your mom?” Malia asked, but before Lydia answered, a small smile spread across her face and she said, “I got her to ride on my motorcycle.”

“With you driving?” Lydia snorted. That was a death wish. “She must really like you.”

“She doesn’t-“ Malia began, but Lydia cut her off.

“Just like you like her.” Lydia added.

“Who says I like her?” Malia said.

“Don’t bullshit me, Tate. I know you.”

Malia frowned, and then threw a pillow at Lydia for the 10th time that week.

Lydia caught it. “You know, you have way too many throw pillows.”

 

Lydia set the stack of folded clothes onto Malia’s bed.

Malia looked up from her laptop. “If that’s my laundry, I was totally going to get to that.”

“Nope,” Lydia said, “I did your laundry last week. Since I do all your chores and you never study, remind how you spend all of your time?”

Malia pretended to think about it. “Dancing and sex.”

“That sounds about right.” Lydia gestured to the pile of clothes, “And Kira gave these to me. Apparently you lent them to her.”

“Oh right.” Malia said, “Tell her thanks.”

“Tell her yourself.” Lydia shot back, “And tell her to give your stuff directly to you next time. I’m not your maid.”

“You basically are.” Malia pointed out.

“Shut up.” Lydia said. “Hey, do you want to tell me what you’re going to be for Halloween?” If she had to do Malia’s laundry, she was at least going to make some money off of being her roommate.

“Nope.” Malia responded, turning back to her laptop.

“No?” Lydia raised an eyebrow, “Even if I take you out to dinner with some of the money?”

“Nope.” Malia repeated, not looking up from the laptop.

Lydia frowned. “So you already told someone else? I’m hurt.”

“So how’s waltz boy?” Malia responded instead of answering.

Lydia knew Malia was trying to distract her (which meant that she had definitely already told somebody else what her costume was but didn’t want to admit it to Lydia), but she took the bait anyway. “Utterly incompetent.”

She had met with him a second time, and it had gone about as well as the first. He was improving, slowly, but if Lydia were a quitter, she would’ve given up. Luckily for Stilinski, if there was one thing Lydia wasn’t, it was a quitter. Especially when her tutoring reputation was at stake.

“So is he in love with you yet?” Malia asked.

“Excuse me?”

“Is he in love with you yet?” Malia repeated. “Come on, slow dancing all day with a hot piece like you? He’s got to be in love with you.”

“I’m tutoring him.” Lydia said plainly. For all his awkwardness, Stiles had been nothing but professional. Apparently he had heeded her warning from their first meeting.

“Mhmmm.” Malia replied suggestively.

Lydia rolled her eyes. That was never going to happen. “Maybe I’ll put $5 on you being an asshole for Halloween.”

“That’s the lamest costume idea I’ve ever heard. What do you think I am? Wait- don’t answer that.”

Lydia patted the clothes as she walked away, “Put these away, asshole.”

 

“Stiles, you have to put your hand on my back.” Lydia said for the third time.

“Right.” Stiles mumbled, awkwardly placing his hand near the small of Lydia’s back. “Is that okay?”

“Firmly.” Lydia commanded. “You’re leading, remember?”

“Right.” Stiles said again, though he didn’t hold Lydia with any more confidence.

Lydia sighed, but didn’t say anything. “Alright then, lead.”

“Now?” Stiles said, but apparently Lydia’s face gave him all the answer he needed. “Now. Okay. Right.”

Despite his words, he didn’t move.

Lydia sighed again. “Okay. I’ll count. Ready?”

“Ready.” Stiles said.

“1-2-3, 1-2-3” Lydia began, slowly at first, and working up to a normal tempo. Stiles stumbled through the first few counts, but began to find his footing. Lydia wondered if he’d been practicing on his own.

They stopped after a few minutes.

Lydia nodded. “Good job?”

“Good?” Stiles pumped his fist, “Hell yeah. You think I’ll be ready for rehearsal next week?”

“We’ll see.”

 

When Lydia made it back to the room Halloween night, Malia was already there, which was odd, because Malia was almost always out late.

“What happened to you?” Lydia asked, plopping down on her bed and kicking off her heels. “You abandoned me out there.”

“Sorry.” Malia muttered, but Lydia could tell she wasn’t really paying attention- mostly because Malia rarely apologized.

“So where were you?” Lydia asked again.

Malia still didn’t seem to be paying attention. She was staring up at the ceiling, with a dreamy look in her eyes that Lydia had never seen before. “She kissed me.”

“What?”

“She kissed me.” Malia repeated. She sat up and looked at Lydia, focus returning. “Kira.” She clarified. “Kissed me. Tonight.”

“Congratulations?” Lydia said.

Malia cocked her head. Clearly she had been thinking about this for a while. “I didn’t think she liked me.”

“I knew she liked you.” Lydia said. Anyone who could stick with Malia after the god-awful meat pancakes had to have some sort of thing for her.

“I think I want to date her.” Malia said. “Like date her date her.”

Lydia’s eyes widened. She had known Malia had a thing for Kira, but in the year and a half she had known her, she had never heard Malia say she wanted to date someone. Sure, she had been on plenty of dates, but none of them had turned into relationships. Lydia had been beginning to think Malia had a fear of commitment.

“Good for you!” Lydia hopped out of her bed to walk over and hug Malia. Malia made a weak attempt of shoving her off, before resorting to just groaning.

“Shut up.” Malia grumbled. “I don’t even know if she wants to date me.”

Lydia rolled her eyes. “She kissed you, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, but-“

“Malia,” Lydia said seriously, “I’ve met her a few times now, and I really don’t think Kira’s a kiss and run type of girl.”

Malia tried to act like that remark didn’t make her happy, but Lydia knew Malia too well for her to hide anything.

“How’s waltz boy?” Malia asked suddenly. She had a habit of changing the topic whenever they talked about emotions for too long.

“Stiles?” Lydia rolled her eyes, “Fine, I assume. He’s getting decent at the waltz.”

“I hate the waltz.” Malia mumbled (despite the fact that Lydia knew Malia had a gorgeous waltz, Malia had never been one for ballroom dancing). “And I meant how are you two doing?”

Lydia rolled her eyes. “ _We_ aren’t doing anything.”

“Mhmm.” Malia said.

This time, Lydia threw a pillow at her.

 

It was past one in the morning when Malia walked into the room.

“I was beginning to think you were dead.” Lydia said from her bed, where she had almost managed to fall asleep before Malia had flung the door open.

“Did I wake you up?” Malia asked.

“No.” Lydia answered, propping herself up on her elbows. “It’s a school night, you know.”

“Hmm?” Malia glanced at the clock, “Oh, yeah.”

“Alright, what’s on your mind?” Lydia said. Something was up with Malia, and she wasn’t going to get to sleep until she got it out of her.

“We’re a thing.” Malia said, and Lydia didn’t even stop to think about how odd it was for Malia to actually answer her question.

Lydia didn’t need clarification. Her and Kira. Of course it was her and Kira.

“Congratulations.” Lydia said, smiling. It was still dark in the room, but she knew Malia was smiling too.

“Shut up.” Malia responded, but with even less malice than usual (which wasn’t that much to begin with).

“Gladly.” Lydia said, and then lay back down, and slept like a baby.


End file.
